The biggest causes of serious casualty road crashes in Tasmania are speed, alcohol and inattentiveness. There were 1,621 serious casualties – 202 fatalities and 1419 serious injuries – in the five years to the end of 2011. The Road Safety Advisory Council’s goal is to have no serious casualties and together we can work towards achieving that goal. The main things every driver can do is always obey the road rules, not drive after drinking alcohol and drive at a speed suitable to the weather and road conditions. Road crashes are avoidable. Going too fast, driving after drinking alcohol, texting or talking on your mobile while driving can result in a crash in which you and others could be seriously injured or killed. Lives can change for the worse in seconds but it can be avoided by driving safely.

Towards a zero road death and injury road toll is the major goal of the Road Safety Advisory Council. The Motor Accidents Insurance Board funds an integrated approach – enforcement and education – to achieving that goal. The MAIB funds 16 traffic police and public education (advertising) campaigns. The biggest causes of death and injury are speed, drinking and driving, and inattention. The Council’s advertising campaigns are targeted at addressing the main causes of road crashes: road users’ behaviours and attitudes. The long-term goal is to make unsafe driving socially unacceptable.

The Road Safety Advisory Council (RSAC) makes recommendations to Government about road safety policy, community, school-based and public education programs, expenditure of the road safety levy and oversees advertising campaigns.

The Road Safety Advisory Council (RSAC) oversees advertising campaigns, makes recommendations to Government about road safety policy, community, school-based and public education programs, and expenditure of the road safety levy. The Council meets quarterly and its work is guided by the Tasmanian Road Safety Strategy 2007-2016.

The Road Safety Advisory Council works closely with Tasmania Police – through the Department of State Growth – to achieve the Council’s road safety vision of working towards zero serious road crash casualties.

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Speeding

Speeding is one of the top three crash factors in fatalities on Tasmanian roads. In the 10 years to 31 December 2013, exceeding the speed limit or excessive speed for the conditions and/or circumstances was a factor in 55 percent of fatalities. Speeding is commonly defined as driving faster than the posted speed limit but it also refers to driving faster than what is safe for the road, weather and traffic conditions. Speeding increases the risk and severity of a crash. A recent South Australian study found that in 60 km/h zones, the risk of being involved in a crash in which someone is injured or killed doubles with each 5 km/h increase in speed. A key issue in speed-related crashes is that most motorists underestimate the distance needed to stop. The reaction distance – the distance the vehicle travels while the driver realises the need to brake – increases with speed. At 60km/h an alert driver takes about 3/4 of a second to react, in which time the vehicle travels 12 metres. The faster the vehicle is going, the longer the reaction distance. The stopping distance is the time it takes for the a vehicle to stop from the time the brakes are applied to when the car has stopped.

Speed limits establish the maximum speed limit. You don’t need to be driving over the posted speed limit to be unsafe. Adjust your speed according to the weather, road and traffic conditions to allow for unexpected hazards. Conditions are rarely perfect and a safe driver needs to constantly alert. A three-second gap should be between your car and the vehicle in front to allow for a safe response to hazards or unexpected events. In wet conditions, this distance should increase to four seconds. The Southern Cross Television video below shows an easy way to calculate distance between you and the car in front.

One of the Road Safety Advisory Council’s goals is to make speeding morally and socially unacceptable, much like drink driving. A driver with a blood alcohol concentration of over 0.05 has double the normal crash risk. A driver who is travelling at 65 km/h in a 60km/h zone has exactly the same crash risk. Therefore speeding is just as dangerous as drink driving. Police issued 43,913 speeding infringements during the 2011/12 financial year that equates to 844 people detected for speeding every week.

All drivers make mistakes but the consequences of them can be reduced by not speeding. This New Zealand Transport Agency ad makes the point well.

RSAC media statements

Pay Attention and Arrive Alive

Driver distraction contributed to the deaths of 85 people and 314 serious injuries on Tasmanian roads in the 10 years to December 31 2012. If distracted when driving, you risk having a serious crash and the faster you are going, the greater the risk.